


A Walk in the Woods

by tellezara



Category: Gyakuten Saiban | Ace Attorney
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-21
Updated: 2013-01-21
Packaged: 2017-11-26 09:41:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/649213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tellezara/pseuds/tellezara
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Response to Kink Meme prompt: 'AA cast as fighter pilots, WWII or modern era.'</p><p>[WW2 AU] Phoenix is walking Pess in the woods when he has an unlikely encounter...</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Walk in the Woods

Phoenix hadn’t meant to stare. It was rude to stare at girls, his mother had taught him that. Just it wasn’t every day you came across one wielding a chainsaw. The racket had started up as he was crossing through the copse, and it was only natural to look through the gap in the trees for the source of it. Her thick black hair was plaited down her back, presumably to keep it out of harm’s reach of the chainsaw. A leather band ran around the back of her head, keeping on the thick goggles she wore to protect her eyes from the flying wood chips. The roughspun Women’s Land Army uniform she wore was covered in chippings and fragments of lichen, as well as leaves from the copse. A dark stain on her rear marked where she had sat down on the wet ground at some point, and she wore Land Army issue boots that were rather similar to his own and were probably ex-RAF at some point or another.

He hadn’t meant to stare, and really, this view from behind was wholly unattractive, and yet now, he was a little curious as to what she actually looked like. She had her back to him, and hadn’t heard his approach over the noise of her chainsaw. She wielded the heavy chainsaw with determination, one hand on the side bar and the other on the top, holding it steady as it bit through the wood of the tree she was cutting down. She then pulled it out, switching it off, and inspected her handiwork. It was a neat horizontal cut passing through most of the tree. She then bobbed down, kneeling on the wet ground for extra stability and angling the chainsaw up slightly, and began the exercise again on a lower part of the tree.  
Phoenix felt a wet nose shove into his hand. 

“Oh, hey, Pess. It’s supposed to be walkie-time, isn’t it?” he patted the Border Collie’s head, digging his fingers into the fur behind Pess’ ears and giving him a good scratch.

Pess pawed at his leg. He didn’t wear a collar, but the scarf tied around his neck had a crude bullseye painted on it, showing that he belonged to the RAF base. That wasn’t enough to stop the farmers in the area having a potshot at him if they found him wandering alone, though – he had no interest in their sheep, not when he could play football with the airmen, but they weren’t to know that.

“I guess we should get going, huh?” he said, taking one last glance at the Land girl, who was still engrossed in her work and hadn’t even noticed him.

The noise of the chainsaw stopped, and as he was about to walk away he heard a shout.

“Hey, mister, you’re gonna get a tree falling on you and your dog in a minute!”

Phoenix did a doubletake. The voice was distinctly American, and south western to boot. He looked back, to see the Land girl had turned to face him. Her goggles dwarfed her face, sitting low on her button nose. She could not have been much older than 18.

“Hey, where are you from?” he shouted back.

“Huh?” the girl pushed her goggles up onto her forehead, to get a better look at him. “Oh! I’m sorry, sir!” she looked a little abashed. “I didn’t realise you were RAF, sir, I’m sorry for shouting at you. These goggles are a bit scratched and I can’t see so well with them.”

“That’s okay, I appreciate being told that I’m about to have a tree fall on my head,” Phoenix grinned. “That’s not gonna happen just yet, right?”

“Uh, no, I only cut the notch, I haven’t done the backcut yet. But hey, you’re from my neck of the woods!”

“Yup, that’s right,” Phoenix replied. “You’re the first American land girl I’ve met – what brings you over here?”

“I’ve been here since before the war!” the girl declared proudly. “I’m practically British, y’know!”

“You sure don’t sound it,” Phoenix teased.

“Aw, come on, the accent’s my trademark, gotta hold onto that!”

“So did you emigrate or something?”

“Yeah, I’m living with my aunty and my cousin. My aunty’s got arthritis and my cousin’s only nine, so I figured somebody had to go off and do their bit for the war effort!” she hefted the chainsaw up. “And hey, I think I’ve done a pretty good job so far – twenty trees I’ve felled with this thing!”

“That’s impressive. I didn’t know the Forestry lot were using Land Army girls too.”

“Well, desperate times, y’know,” the girl shrugged. “Everybody needs wood, and they’ve hardly any lumberjacks left – besides, felling trees is pretty easy once you know the tricks!”

“Guess I’d better get out of the way and let you do your job then, huh?”

“You can stay and watch if you want, you’re curious, right?” the girl grinned.

“Well, tell me your name first, before you start chopping again. Mine’s Phoenix Wright. Flying Officer,” he added proudly.

“Mine’s Maya, Maya Fey,” Maya put her goggles back on again, moving to the other side of the tree. “Nice to meet you! If you’d like to stand over there, Mr. Wright, sir,” she paused, then she laughed. “Hey, you’re not much older than me, right? It feels kinda weird calling you Mr. Wright. Can I call you Nick?”

Phoenix shrugged, moving to where Maya had pointed. “It’s better than what I get called at the base, so fine with me.”

“What do they call you at the base?”

“...Birdy.” Phoenix made a face.

“Aw, too bad!” Maya chuckled. “Well, you’re still alive in this crazy war, being named after a phoenix can’t be such a bad thing! Now then...” she was all business as she raised her chainsaw to the chalk marks on the tree.

The sound of the chainsaw drowned everything else out. Phoenix kept a tight hold of Pess, lest he run too close.

“Chocks away!” Maya yelled as she pulled the chainsaw away, switching it off and scooting back to where Phoenix was standing.

There was an long, drawn-out creak and the tree listed forwards, crashing to the floor of the copse and sending leaf litter flying in all directions. It bounced on its springy branches, cracking a few of them sideways, and then settled.

“A job well done!” Maya took her goggles off and set the chainsaw down, satisfied. Pess barked his agreement, and Maya laughed, bobbing down to give him a pat.

“Hey, how am I supposed to get back to the base?” Phoenix asked.

“Er,” Maya looked over at the tree she had just felled. It was well and truly blocking the path. “It’s a little taller than I estimated.” She paused, thinking. “Ah, I can show you a way back, Nick! Follow me!”

She picked up her chainsaw and began walking away. Phoenix thought to offer to carry it for her, but having just seen her fell a 70ft tree by herself, it seemed a little redundant.

“So what happens to the tree now?” he asked, lengthening his stride to catch up with her. “Does somebody else come to collect it?”

“Yup!” Maya said cheerily. “I can’t hump those big things around myself, they’ve got a special truck. I have to cut all the limbs off myself, though – that takes a while.”

“Isn’t it a bit dangerous, doing all of that by yourself? What if you get injured?” Phoenix asked.

Maya stopped in her tracks, turning around to give him an odd look.

“How’s it any more dangerous then you flying off in a plane?” she asked.

“Uh,” Phoenix had to pause and think about this. “Well, we usually fly in a group, we look out for each other.”

“That’s no help if you get shot, though, right?”

“No,” he admitted.

“So if you’re putting yourself in danger every time you fly off anywhere, the least I can do is help provide some wood for the war effort, right?” Maya turned around and started walking again.

“I... can’t really argue with that.”

“But hey, you must be a pretty good pilot to still be here!”

“Maybe I’m just lucky?”

“I dunno, I’ve seen you guys coming back with planes you could see the sky through sometimes, so many holes in them – there’s gotta be some skill somewhere!”

They walked through the copse and chatted, Pess bouncing on ahead. Phoenix told her about his Spitfire and his last sortie, in which he’d returned in a plane much as she’d described – more hole than actual plane.

“And here’s where I’m lucky,” he took his glove off and showed her his bandaged hand. “The bullet went right through – anywhere else and I’d have lost the hand!”

“Ooh,” Maya poked it.

“Ow, don’t do that!” Phoenix grabbed her hand. “It’s still pretty sore!”

“Sorry,” Maya said, “I was just curious...” she trailed off, looking at him.

They stood on the outskirts of the copse, the huts and runways of the airbase stretched out in the valley below them. Phoenix’s gloved hand dwarfing her own slender one as he held it. He looked back at her, seeing uncertainty in her eyes. She looked even younger like that. He smiled at her, and let go of her hand.

“You can see it when the bandage comes off,” he said. “It’ll be good as new!”

Maya hesitated, realising he’d picked up on her uncertainty.

“Is that why you’re walking the dog, ‘cause you can’t fly?” she asked. There was an air of hopefulness to her question.

“Yup, I’ll... probably be back through here tomorrow,” he answered, trying to sound as if that was the plan all along.

“Well, I’ll be around!” Maya hefted the chainsaw up onto one shoulder. “I’ll try to leave you some trees for walking in, we’re supposed to be felling about three quarters of the stuff here over the next week or two,” she waved a hand at the copse. “I’ll be in the same place as you found me today. Just mind how you go, I’d hate to drop a tree on you!”

“I’ll be careful. See you tomorrow, then!” Phoenix whistled to Pess, who came running out of the trees.

“See ya, Nick!” Maya waved the pair off, then disappeared back into the trees again.

Phoenix looked across the valley. A Lancaster was coming in to land, escorted by two Spitfires. He had a good hour’s walk to get back to base, and he wasn’t sure how many days he had before the Chief Medical Officer pronounced him fit to fly again, but if there was one thing this war had taught him, it was to live in the present and treasure the moments he had. And right now, he felt on top of the world.


End file.
